Photography In The Real World

"A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights."--Napoleon

Recently The New York Times reported that New York City was considering a law requiring photographers to obtain a permit and have $1 million in liability insurance before taking pictures on city property, including sidewalks. The film office held a public hearing on the proposed rules and nobody attended. The New York Civil Liberties Union, concerned that the rules "set the stage for selective and perhaps discriminatory enforcement by police," filed written comments. When Silver Spring, Maryland, rent-a-cop guards began enforcing a no photography policy claiming that some public streets are "private property," area photographers formed a Flickr group (www.flickr.com) to post photos of the area in defiance of the ban and scheduled a protest. I previously published a link (www.krages.com/phoright.htm) to Attorney Bert P. Krages II's PDF file explaining your rights when making photographs. Download a copy, read it, and keep a copy in your camera bag, and if you live or visit New York City or Silver Spring, don't leave home without one.

© 2007, Joe Farace, All Rights Reserved

www.lonnatucker.com
Lots of people, including moi, take pictures of cars. Lonna Tucker is an artist who uses light to sculpt classic cars placed in awe-inspiring backgrounds. I can say without equivocation that her automobile photographs are the best I have seen in my life. Much like Garth and Wayne from Wayne's World, I want to bow down saying, "I am not worthy..." OK, maybe I'm exaggerating, but not by much. Heck, she even has a famous car manufacturer's name, although there are no Tuckers in her "Classic Cars" portfolio.

Let me say a few words about the site design: It's drop-dead beautiful, epitomizing how to create a website that says class, style, and if you have to ask "how much?" you probably can't afford her day rate. Heck, most of us can't afford to play a round of golf on any of the courses featured in her "Golfscapes" portfolio either. Here Tucker shows a mastery of light and dramatic composition that produces one more gee-whiz reaction after another when clicking the next arrow. Her "Landscape" images are vast empty spaces where Mother Nature is fully in control and filled with glowing light that speaks to her patience as well as compositional mastery. Tucker's image of the Hanna Vineyard in Sonoma is simply breathtaking. If her "Landscape" photographs are all about light then the images in the "Places" portfolio drip with drama, from silhouettes of a beach to resort helicopter shots that visibly demonstrate how photography is truly painting with light, and that Tucker is one of our leading artists.

© 2007, Lonna Tucker, All Rights Reserved

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